Abstract

Because they are capable of switching several wavelengths simultaneously,¹ acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTF) are under consideration as wavelength-routing switches in WDM networks. However, our recent measurements (Fig. 1) of the complete pass or rejection band show that in addition to small decreases in switching efficiency, channels shift toward each other when neighboring channels are selected. Shifts depend on channel separation, with nearby channels influencing each other more than widely separated channels, and channels always move towards each other.

© 1995 Optical Society of America